Would you ever want to be a scapegoat? I would. At least I would want to be if I am dealing with God. With God, the scapegoats were allowed to live. The “scape” part of the word “scapegoat” is an archaic verb that means to depart or escape. In other words, the scapegoat is the goat that escapes.

If you have guessed that at least one other goat is implied by the concept of a scapegoat you are correct. In fact, it is only one other goat. What happens to the scapegoat and the other goat? We find out from the portion of Leviticus where God instructs the children of Israel about the rituals to be carried out on The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).

And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house. And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD’S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. – Leviticus 16:6-10

Just to make it perfectly clear to those who might not be familiar with the terminology, when the goat and the bullock are offered for a sin offering, those animals were killed. This is made quite clear in Leviticus 4:4 (for the bullock) and Leviticus 4:24 (for the goat). The offering was not merely symbolic.

With the Biblical scapegoat and sin offering process, we see the Lord’s mercy. All the people are guilty of sin. No one is perfect and sinless. But first the Lord substitutes the shed blood of animals for the sins of people. Then he spares some animals, even though the blood of animals could never totally make atonement for the sins of the human race.

And certainly, I would want the lot to fall upon me to be spared, not slaughtered. When the Lord casts a lot, He casts a perfect lot.

But people, as they sometimes do, have twisted the meaning of scapegoat into the ones who take upon themselves all the blame for a certain situation, even if they happen to be innocent. No wonder King David, when he had committed a grievous sin against the Lord and was offered a choice among three punishments, he replied to the prophet who was God’s messenger bringing the choices to David: I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the LORD; for very great are his mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man. – 1st Chronicles 21:13 (portion)

Trans woman victim of violence

In the past few years, transgender people have found ourselves to be scapegoats more and more. A tiny minority (estimated at 0.6% of the population), we are being blamed for the ills of society, charged with imposing ourselves and our agenda on the rest of the country, and impugned as being a group that uses our alleged gender identity as an excuse to violate girls and women, either by voyeurism or outright physical attack. The latter charges fly in the face of the facts, as brought up by police chiefs and statistics around the country, that transgender people are not committing these crimes, even when access to bathrooms and other women-only spaces have been opened up to trans women.

Over a random period of a few months a while back when I was developing this post, I began to record mentions of sex crimes against women and children that were picked up in the news feeds that I receive. I decided on at least a dozen examples (I ended up collecting a few more). When I decided to start collecting this information, I had no idea what relevant news stories would be forthcoming and had no control over them. These were the stories I collected.

40 year old white male middle school principal in upstate NY accused of having sex with a minor under the age of 17.

32 year old black male Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn who had been given the task of prosecuting sex crimes accused of sexually assaulting a woman in her car.

49 year old white male Village Trustee, venture capitalist and professor accused of possessing and promoting an obscene sexual performance by a child (uploading a child porn video to a website).

48 year old white male former major league baseball player, serving a 7-15 year prison sentence for six counts of criminal sexual conduct, is negotiating a settlement with four women who had been students at the high school where he worked related to him inappropriately touching them while they were working out in the weight room of the school.

76 year old white male rabbi and yeshiva principal in Connecticut accused by an alleged victim of repeated rape, molestation and sexual assault while the victim was a student and a minor.

28 year old black male who previously served seven years for a combination robbery, physical assault and sexual assault and then violated his parole two years after release was caught on camera and arrested for a similar combination of crimes against an adult woman in connection with a string of robberies in New York City.

52 year old white male music teacher and founder of a music school in New York City was arrested for allegedly trying to have sex with girls as young as 8 years old and actually having sex with 15 year old girls on multiple occasions.

30 year old white male coach of a high school girls’ sports team in Michigan was convicted and sentenced after confessing to filming underage girl team members undressing, and also possessing child pornography.

73 year old white male coach in upstate New York was arrested for sexually abusing one of his athletes, a female under the age of 15.

29 year old white male computer programmer and member of the mayoral staff of a major U.S. city arrested for promoting a sexual performance by a child under age 16 and for possession of child pornography on his laptop: about 3,000 images and 89 videos of nude girls between the approximate ages of 6 months to 16 years old having sexual conduct with adult males.

29 year old black male masseuse at a legitimate massage parlor located within a major U.S. airport accused of raping a 25 year old female receiving a massage during a flight layover.

50 year old black male counselor at an upstate New York medical facility was sentenced to a long prison term for sexually abusing patients suffering from traumatic brain injuries.

43 year old white male in Northern New Jersey sentenced to 33 years in prison for sexually assaulting three girls, ages 12, 14 and 15 years old who were daughters of his close family friends.

28 year old white male practicing attorney in the NYC Metropolitan Area arrested for taking upskirt photos of two 19 year old females at a sporting event.

A white female (in her late 30’s at the time) elementary school teacher in upstate New York was accused by her alleged victim (now an adult; gender not specified) of rape when the accuser was under the age of 13.

25 year old white male police officer in upstate New York was charged with raping a minor under the age of 17.

There were no transgender perpetrators. All but one was a cisgender male. None of them disguised themselves as women to carry out their attacks. Many were involved with schools or worked for the government in some other capacity. Are there calls for banning people in these categories from public restrooms on the grounds of prevention? Of course not. More to the point, the loudest voices crying out in support of so-called transgender bathroom bills say nothing about preventative measures against the most likely group to commit sex crimes: those convicted in the past of multiple sex crimes.

Another argument used against transgender people is the suicide argument. Because of high suicide rates, the argument is made that transgender people must be mentally ill. But is transgender the cause or is it the stress of the negative reaction of family, friends and institutions? For comparison, let’s look at another group that suffers from high suicide rates.

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2014, an average of 20 veterans committed suicide each day, shining a light on only the most visible group of vets suffering from mental illness. Of those 20, only six were users of VA services. Veterans who are dishonorably discharged or who make too much money wouldn’t be eligible for counseling. The graphic included in this post shows that the frequency of suicides has increased since 2014.

A Government Accountability Office study published recently showed that 60 percent of troops who have been discharged for misconduct in recent years suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder or some other type of brain injury.

Has the anti-transgender crowd called for a disbanding of the U.S. military because of the negative effect military service has on young men and women who serve? No. Have they called upon the military to change its recruiting methods to filter out those who are prone to suicide? No. Have they charged that those who volunteer for military service are prima facie suffering from mental illness because of the high suicide rate? Once again the answer is no.

In these examples, we see the nature of scapegoating. One group is picked upon to receive a disproportionate share of blame or negativity.

To be fair, while there is a significant amount of both scapegoating and violence against transgender people in the United States, the evidence we see every November when we observe the Transgender Day of Remembrance is that it is much worse in many other countries. Brazil, a country divided on the issue similar to the U.S., nonetheless sees in the neighborhood of five times as many murders of transgender people. In many countries, Muslim ones in particular, it is against the law to be transgender.

Exactly how many countries have laws making it illegal to be transgender? We don’t know for certain. Or at least there is no definitive list online. There are many lists of the countries where it is illegal to engage in homosexual activity or distribute homosexual “propaganda”. The people who maintain these lists assume that it would be against the law to be transgender in these same countries. But there is no specific documentation of that, nor is there any acknowledgement that a country that does not prohibit same sex activities might still have laws making transgender identity or expression illegal. It’s a bit ironic that human rights organizations don’t bother to give special recognition to the status of transgender individuals around the world, no?

Bathroom bills would require him and all trans men to use the woman’s restroom in a public place

Many times I have been in a group discussion where it is stated that people fear those who are different than them. Certainly transgender people compared to the vast cisgender majority are different than most people. And yet not all differences are feared. Redheads comprise between 1-2% of the population, yet they don’t seem to be feared. About 8% of the population has blue eyes, but they aren’t feared, either. Skin color seems to be more fear provoking than hair color or eye color. One might opine that we fear the dark, but do people with the darkest hair shades face more discrimination than people with lighter shades? Why the preoccupation with skin color is a question for which I do not have an answer.

When it comes to anything related to sexuality that departs from the norm, the reason is more obvious: the fear is that something deviant and therefore perverse will be done. But obvious reasons do not automatically mean justified reasons. It has already been pointed out that the evidence doesn’t back the fear when it comes to transgender people in public bathrooms. And of course those who support bathroom bills to keep trans women out of women’s public bathrooms forget that those same bills would require trans men to use the women’s public bathroom.

Asexual Panromantic flag

So if prejudice is based on what people will or even might do, then shouldn’t we expect that there would not be prejudice against people who are asexual? Certainly if there is any group who identifies with a minimum of sexual motivation, it is this group. And yet studies find that there is a high degree of prejudice against the asexual community, as this Psychology Today article discusses.

Discrimination may or may not be rational. A person with a discriminating palate is justified in choosing a five star restaurant over a fast food restaurant and a $100 bottle of wine over a bottle of wine with a twist-off cap.

Discrimination based on prejudice is never rational. Yet prejudicial people have to find reasons to rationalize and justify their prejudices. People generally don’t want to appear to be bigoted. People generally don’t want to appear to be irrational.

Statistics are often the bedfellow of prejudice. And any time a person cites 79% or 63% or 51% (and sometimes even 10% or less) as a reason to discriminate against an individual, it is prejudice. Until one gets to know that individual, it is unknown which side of the issue or which type of behavior that individual will represent.

And when the percentage approaches zero, as it does with transgender people and violence by us, and yet there is still prejudice against us, how much clearer can it be that we are being scapegoated?

Although this post is being published on Memorial Day weekend, there is an Easter message in this. But it is fitting for Memorial Day as well. The act of communion commemorates the broken body and shed blood of Jesus as He bore our sins as part of the Easter story. We celebrate … yes celebrate such violence against Him … in remembrance of Him and what He did for us. And as only someone who is 100% God and 100% human could do, in one process He bore our sins on the cross as the scapegoat, was the Passover sacrificial lamb offering who shed His blood and gave His life for us, and He forever became the Good Shepherd leading His flock.

For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. – 1st Peter 2:21-25

I enjoy a good love story. I’m talking romance, not necessarily sex. Perhaps I love them even more after all these years because I haven’t known much romance in my life. I’m a romantic person who had very little opportunity to express that side of me, in either gender role.

The Bible has a number of beautiful love stories. Some of them also had a bit of tarnish on them. The love that Jacob had for Rachel is both beautiful and tarnished.

The eldest servant of Abraham, Jacob’s grandfather, was sent to Padanaram to find a wife for Jacob’s father, Isaac. That wife, Rebecca, would favor Jacob over his twin brother, Esau (the elder brother by a matter of a few moments). It was Rebecca who also suggested that Jacob personally go to Padanaram to find his own wife. The journey would also help Jacob escape the wrath of Esau, the one that he cheated out of a birthright and the best blessing.

It was quite a journey for Jacob, a man heretofore content to stay in the camp and dwell in tents. Most significant of all, he has a direct encounter with the Lord at Bethel and vows that if the Lord takes care of him on this journey, the Lord will be Jacob’s God.

This sets the stage for Jacob to arrive at the land of his grandfather’s people. And when he arrives, the first woman he lays eyes upon his Rachel, not unlike Abraham’s servant encountering Rebecca as the first woman he approaches. And both encounters take place at sources of water, a most precious commodity to the sheep ranchers of the Middle East.

At this time in her life, Rachel is the keeper of her family’s flock, a shepherdess. As she approaches the well, Jacob is conversing with the men about the proper procedures of sheep (cattle) ranching.

And he said, Lo, it is yet high day, neither is it time that the cattle should be gathered together: water ye the sheep, and go and feed them. And they said, We cannot, until all the flocks be gathered together, and till they roll the stone from the well’s mouth; then we water the sheep. – Genesis 29:7-8

Notice that the men of that place are not rolling away the stone. They are waiting for “they” to do it for them.

But when Rachel arrives with her flocks, Jacob himself rolls away the stone from the well and waters the sheep. (This is the reverse of the encounter between Abraham’s servant and Rebecca. At that time, Rebecca gave the servant a drink and also watered the servant’s camels.)

Having impressed Rachel with his gallant gesture, Jacob goes to Rachel and kisses her. (Okay, I’m enhancing the text here a bit, romantic that I am. But he did kiss her.) Then he identifies himself as family.

This is where the love story of Jacob and Rachel begins. And here is where it quickly gets sullied. Jacob’s Uncle Laban, father of Rachel, gets involved. Perhaps Laban has gotten wilier in his older years. Perhaps he realizes he is dealing this time with a suitor, not a servant. Perhaps both. But it soon becomes clear that Jacob, the conniver and supplanter, is from the same gene pool as Laban. However, Laban is more experienced and Jacob at first appears to have met his match.

Jacob’s bargaining skills are blinded by the stars in his eyes for Rachel. He agrees to work for seven years for Laban to obtain Rachel’s hand in marriage. And Jacob’s love for Rachel is so strong that seven years seem like only a few days for him. Ladies, could a suitor be any more devoted than that?

Here’s where Laban gets the better of Jacob. Apparently there was no formal wedding ceremony in those days where the bride and groom stood together before someone to marry them. As a wealthy man and father of the bride, Laban has a feast and then delivers the bride to the groom for their wedding night. But lo and behold, when Jacob awakes the next morning, it is Rachel’s older sister, Leah, next to him. Laban wants to marry off his oldest daughter first, and he tricks Jacob to do so.

Jacob works seven more years for Rachel, although this time Laban doesn’t make Jacob wait more than a week. Apparently Leah was entitled to a conjugal week.

Now we have the advantage of hindsight to know how the story turns out. After another seven years, Jacob wants to take his growing family and return to his home in Canaan. This time Laban is in the position of desperate bargainer. For fourteen years, he has seen how the Lord has blessed whatever Jacob does. He doesn’t want to lose Jacob and that blessing on his ranching operation. So now Jacob can name his price. And at first it looks like Jacob is a poor negotiator once again. But it gives Jacob the opportunity to fleece Laban this time. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist the pun.) And soon, Jacob has accumulated great and healthy flocks of his own to go back home with. And when he sees that Laban and his sons are starting to turn against him, Jacob decides that it is time to get out of Dodge.

Through all these machinations, Jacob eventually fathers the twelve sons who become heads of the tribes of Israel. And on the way back to meet up with Esau once again, Jacob has another encounter with the Lord (a wrestling match this time: how many people would be more afraid of their brother than the creator of all things?) that leads to him being given the name by which the nation would be known: Israel. Regardless of why God chose to have things happen this way, they happened.

It was by Leah that Levi was born, becoming the tribe of priests. Leah’s fourth son, Judah, named for her praise of the Lord, would become the ruling tribe. When peace finally comes, all the people shall be gathered unto him.

It was by Rachel that Joseph was born. He was the one who emerged from prison to save his people and forgive his brothers.

Almost all the pieces of the picture, the foreshadows, are present in this fascinating, imperfect love story. But it never comes to full fruition, never comes together in one person: not until Jesus, the lion of Judah, the son of David, the Prince of Peace, Emmanuel, the Alpha and the Omega from everlasting to everlasting.

Jesus is the Passover lamb, the perfect lamb without spot or blemish, whose sacrifice once forever saves the people from their sins. But He is also the Good Shepherd. His sheep hear His voice and follow Him.

Jesus is the priest after the order of Melchizedek, without beginning or end. But He also sits at the right hand of God the father. The scepter never departs from His hand and He shall be the righteous judge of all.

Jacob, in fathering twelve sons, was in a sense the creator of the nation. He is another picture that points to Jesus:

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. – Colossians 1:16-17

In addition to being the sheep, the shepherd (Rachel), the priest (Levi), the ruler (Judah), the savior (Joseph) who also preached to the spirits in prison (1st Peter 3:19), the sacrificial love (Jacob for Rachel) that gave His life for us while we were yet sinners and at enmity with God, the way to the Father (Bethel) and the creator (Jacob/Israel), Jesus is also the life-giving water in the story. Jesus is the living water: those who drink of Him shall never thirst. Water is also an image associated with the Word of God. Jesus is the word made flesh to have free course: those who partake of it will never hunger.

Furthermore, Jesus is the light who has come into the world. Whether as the pillar of fire by night or in the burning bush (for example), it was always God who brought the light to the scene. This is also true figuratively, as when God enlightened Joseph with the interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams. Nothing physical in the story of Jacob, Rachel and the children of Israel could be a foreshadowing of the light that illuminates the darkness.

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. – Isaiah 9:2,6-7

In order for there to be the victory of Easter, there had to be the hope that was born of Christmas.

When Jesus hung on the cross of Calvary, the sun was darkened. Earthquakes tore the veil of the temple in two and opened the ground, including graves that saw their occupants come to life. A couple of days later, another earthquake rolled the stone away. No person had to do so this time.

As dawn’s light filled the sky on that Resurrection Sunday, so too did the Gospel message have valid proof. “An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.”

The stone has been rolled away. It is time to water the sheep. It will be time to water the sheep until Jesus returns. As Christians, we are to be the clay pots to carry the water to the troughs. Whatever else our lot in life may be, this is our first responsibility, our great commission.

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. – Mark 16:15

The pastor of my church who gave the sermon this Easter morning, chose the account from John 20:1-18. The accounts in all four Gospels are wonderful, but this one gives more detail about Mary Magdalene’s activity during that Resurrection morning, including her encounter with Jesus.

I read these verses a few weeks earlier as part of my personal Bible study. It moved me in a way it never had before.

First Mary sees that the tomb is empty. She runs to tell Peter and John about it. They run to the tomb and she returns there as well. Peter and John also see that the tomb is empty. Still trying to sort it out, the men return home. But Mary stays behind at the tomb. That is where we find her when we get to verse 11.

But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her. – John 20:11-18

When I read these words a few weeks ago, I started crying along with Mary. In a way that had never been so clear before, I understood how painful it was for her when she could not find Jesus. Jesus meant the world to her. And He means the world to me. He has for close to 25 years.

But for the first time since I was saved, I could relate to the idea of losing Jesus. While I knew from Scripture that God would never fail or forsake me, what if I could no longer see Him because sin was blinding me to Him. Some of the Christians I had told about my transition had claimed that this had happened. What if they were right? And in the months leading up to my decision to explore transition, I was being pulled in sinful directions like never before. There were many days I was so ashamed that I wanted to hide from God.

I am at peace about these things now. But the memory is still fresh. So as Mary wept while she searched for her Deliverer in vain, I wept right along with her. Perhaps during those moments when she shed those precious tears, she was thinking about how horrible her life would still be if she had never met Jesus and He hadn’t had mercy on her and changed her life for all eternity. It was part of my thoughts as I wept with her.

First the angels ask her why she is weeping. As soon as she answers, she turns around and sees a man who asks her the same question. But then he asks a second question: Who are you seeking?

At first, she doesn’t recognize Jesus. How often in life do we look for something and don’t recognize it when it is right in front of us? Perhaps she was only looking for a body, not a live person. One reason we miss out on what we are seeking is that it didn’t come in the way or form we wanted or were expecting.

In that case, she would not have been focusing on this man. Her eyes might have been darting around looking here and there for clues as the morning light grew brighter. Was there a place where a body had been dragged along the ground or some grass disturbed? Perhaps the grave robbers became frightened and dropped the body nearby?

But then Jesus, having compassion on this woman who had become such a faithful and devoted follower as soon as He saved her, brings her consternation to an end. All He needs to do is say one word: Mary. Her name.

The text says that immediately she “turned herself” in response. I interpret this to mean that up to that point, she was not totally engaged with this person. But upon hearing her own name spoken by the Master as no one else ever did, she gives Him her full attention. And immediately she recognizes Him.

Dear reader, if you are saved, you can relate to this. At some point in your life, Jesus called you by name, your spiritual eyes were opened and you recognized Him as your Lord and Savior.

When I reached this point in the text, I really started bawling. Because at that moment, the last remaining spiritual question I had about my transition had been answered. My new name symbolizes my transition. At some point during my transition, I had prayed that God would tell me by what name He knows me: my birth name or the name I chose for myself. Until a few weeks ago, I still didn’t have an answer.

When I read that verse, the reaction in my spirit told me the answer. It was the reason I went from weeping to bawling. My joy was too great for words. God, my loving Abba Father, called me by name … LOIS: I am His daughter, Lois. He still loves me as I am with His abiding love. And I love Him more than ever.

God bless you with the understanding that an empty tomb is the reason you can still find Jesus,